Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum, and new to bird owning itself as I have never owned a bird in my life, but recently I inherited a mature green IRN from a deceased relative. I'm not sure how old he is, and my relative wasn't even his original owner.
He has never been handled to my knowledge and is very aggressive, but very attached to a stuffed toy bird which I think he bonded with. He accepts treats through his cage bars but if I put my fingers anywhere near the cage without food he will try to bite me. He is very vocal and seems interested in me when I talk/sing/copy him. He is almost always pinning his eyes though, which I'm not sure is a positive or negative.
I babysat him for a month last year and although he has a fear of hands, I got him to a point where he would step up onto a stick while I was wearing gardening cloves and would walk around me on the floor (as I would lay on the floor reading a book). I've tried again once since getting him but he seems to have reverted and just flew around the house wildly till crashing to the ground, he then let me pick him up and I held him on my shoulder while I walked him to his cage and put him away.
I'm very fond of him and would love to get to a point where he could step up, sit on my shoulder, and walk around me while I read/work, but I fear that may not be possible so I was wondering if anyone had any tips or opinions on how I could go about this.
My housemate owns a Lovebird and Green Cheek Conure, should I keep them separate or house them as neighbors? Would slowly introducing them through bars be beneficial? They are quite friendly towards new birds (as they took to each other quite fast, and my friend's birds, also a lovebird and GCC) so perhaps it would be good to get him off of his toy bird and onto actual birds? As I stated before, I've never owned a bird before, only been around them, so any opinion is appreciated! Thank you!
(Extra: His name is Elvis but I was hoping to change it, that would have no affect to him would it? He says "It's Elvis!" but he doesn't really know that's his name, right?)
He has never been handled to my knowledge and is very aggressive, but very attached to a stuffed toy bird which I think he bonded with. He accepts treats through his cage bars but if I put my fingers anywhere near the cage without food he will try to bite me. He is very vocal and seems interested in me when I talk/sing/copy him. He is almost always pinning his eyes though, which I'm not sure is a positive or negative.
I babysat him for a month last year and although he has a fear of hands, I got him to a point where he would step up onto a stick while I was wearing gardening cloves and would walk around me on the floor (as I would lay on the floor reading a book). I've tried again once since getting him but he seems to have reverted and just flew around the house wildly till crashing to the ground, he then let me pick him up and I held him on my shoulder while I walked him to his cage and put him away.
I'm very fond of him and would love to get to a point where he could step up, sit on my shoulder, and walk around me while I read/work, but I fear that may not be possible so I was wondering if anyone had any tips or opinions on how I could go about this.
My housemate owns a Lovebird and Green Cheek Conure, should I keep them separate or house them as neighbors? Would slowly introducing them through bars be beneficial? They are quite friendly towards new birds (as they took to each other quite fast, and my friend's birds, also a lovebird and GCC) so perhaps it would be good to get him off of his toy bird and onto actual birds? As I stated before, I've never owned a bird before, only been around them, so any opinion is appreciated! Thank you!
(Extra: His name is Elvis but I was hoping to change it, that would have no affect to him would it? He says "It's Elvis!" but he doesn't really know that's his name, right?)